The Lebanese Government has censured this Friday the stance of the Shiite militia party Hezbollah, which opposes the agreement reached with Israel to curb hostilities. The Executive reproaches the group for its rejection of a pact that, while not yet guaranteeing the complete withdrawal of the Israeli Army from the south of the country, it considers essential, and emphasizes that the formation does not act autonomously, as ultimately it is Iran that "decides for them".
The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Yussef Raggi, has argued that, "After the so-called resistance became involved in wars to support Gaza and Iran, which only brought occupation, destruction, and deaths, the State had no other option than negotiations as the only way to save Lebanon and stop the fighting," according to statements reported by the NNA agency during a meeting with Francophone diplomats.
In this context, he has lashed out at Hezbollah's intention to "culminate the war," "despite the disastrous consequences for Lebanon," stressing that this strategy only reinforces Iran's regional position. In his opinion, the group "remains in denial and has no control over its own decisions, as Tehran decides for it and determines its political and military options."
Raggi has insisted that the understanding with Israel is not definitive and that there are still issues that "must be addressed and negotiated," but he has highlighted that the text enshrines the "independence" of Lebanon's decisions and decouples the process from other negotiations as well as from the Islamabad agreement, which focuses on hostilities between the United States and Iran.
The head of Lebanese diplomacy has remarked that this framework demonstrates that the country "negotiates in its own name and no one negotiates in its name" and has reiterated that "We flatly refuse for anyone to negotiate in our name and to be part of a process dictated to us from abroad."